The Discoveries of an American Space Walk Video

Learn about one of the space walks by American astronauts. In this video you will learn about the portable life support system, the practicality of the space suits and also the capacity of the shuttle fleet during an operation.Read the full transcript »

The Discoveries of an American Space Walk This was America’s first space walk in nine years. The astronauts were attached by safety traverse to slide wise attached just inside the payload bay. They wore a new design in space suits also called extravehicular mobility use. A portable life support system was worn on the back finally eliminating the need for a lifeline connected to the orbiter. Continuing their quest for reusability, the suits were not custom built for each astronaut. Tops and bottoms are different sizes could be mixed. They were also more flexible than previous space suits allowing a greater practicality and comfort for extended use in space. The crew removed tools from a storage locker in the front part of the payload bay. They moved off again. Using a cable, run through a wench mounted on a bulkhead then tied to the cradle but it held the IOS. The astronauts demonstrate they could have lowered the cradle manually had commands from on board failed. Wind separations were tested on the front bulkhead using an extra genie as a load. This was to test how many pounds the wench in line could handle and was part of NASA’s investigations into the capacities of the shuttle fleet during operation. Lastly, the tools were restored and the astronauts reentered the spacecraft. Perhaps, the most visually spectacular missions since the Apollo missions to the moon, challenges, shuttle to flight gave us the first live view of the orbiter in action in space.

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